Silandis Vega
1062-1123. Pandese Pontifex Maximus and the president of the Adventurers' Guild 1098-1123. He was reckoned one of Bandagora's top five warriors. ''Biography'' Silandis was born in 1062 in the holy city of Hardor to the Vega family. The Vega family considers itself the noblest family in the whole of Bandagora . Not because they are one of the ten Imperial families eligible for providing a candidate to the Pandese throne. There has only been two Vegan emperors, and that was five centuries ago, so the Vega family ranks number five in the Imperial succession. No, they are the noblest, because they are the staunch keepers of a tradition dating back to the founding of Hardor. The Vegans hold the office of Pontifex Maximus, the Great Builder of Bridges, and though this title is commonly called 'priest-king' of Hardor, they are not kings because their great-great-great grandfather killed somebody or invaded some land or other. They are priests because Enki wills it so. Besides, the Vegans are aristocrats, educated men with skills in many fields. The pontifex maximus is a philosopher, the emperor is a general. It is fitting that most emperors have been Pandesan, i.e. western Pandese, whereas the priest-kings are Dacrian . The brawn and the brain. In the years following Silandis' birth, things were not well in the Vega family. His father's brother Margos held the office of priest-king, but Margos was acting strangely. Time and again he allowed the heathen Zagy to use the holy river of Belse for obscene purposes. And there was a series of robberies and break-ins that he only reluctantly investigated. The family held meetings, but the uncle just shrugged. As the years passed, they came to the conclusion that Margos was possessed. At this time Silandis was 8 years old, and though he did not understand the exact nature of the situation, he knew that something was wrong. Well, the young Silandis knew that the world was not a perfect place, and sometimes you had to get rough. And the finest family in the world would know what to do. Much to his frustration, they did not. They could not face the scandal that a high priest, supposedly ordained by Enki Himself, had been possessed by some shamanistic Pan-worshipers. They did nothing, except whimper. The let the city suffer. Trade came to a halt because of piracy. Strange drugs were sold in the market. Obscene figures were floating in the canals. The senators had to hire bodyguards. Finally, in 1072, the Emperor Sardis III challenged Margos to a duel. It was the way of tradition, to let gods decide which one is right. Sardis killed Margos relatively easy, leaving the Vega family shamed. The title of pontifex went to Silandis' father, and he would become a meek servant to the emperor, a mere mouthpiece translating into eloquent Dacrian the harsh Pandesan orders. The emperor would revel in his victory for years, and to remind everybody, he named his third son Hardaukar 8 years later. The name means 'ruler of Hardor', and was hopefully taken by the first Pandese emperor in 517, but considered ill-fated since the fall of Pandesa (and Hardaukar II) in 673. Now the third son might never be emperor, but he would surely sit in the senate sticking out like a sore thumb. At this time Silandis knew he would be expected to take the mantle of priest-king when his father died, but he wanted none of it. Aristocracy was a sham. He would go away, start from scratch and make his own destiny based on merit, not heritage. So he did, and he did well. As a prospective priest of Enki, he had had some training, but now he wanted to learn sword-fighting. In 1080 he went to Telluria, adventuring and learning Lakedi. In 1084, he bought a house in Vintendra. He continued to make a living as an adventurer, visited the Mnemthosis many times, and taught himself his fourth language, Marentian. Though he liked the rough life, he was sorely tempted by the thought of using his family's wealth to buy himself a hoard of powerful magic items. There had to be another way. That way was the Adventurers' Guild. In 1088 he applied for training as a local guild master. In 1093 he sat in the guild's executive council, and moved to Enders. In 1098 he was elected Grand Guild Master or President of the Adventurers' Guild. By that time he was rated one of the top five warriors in Bandagora. That same year, his father died. Now Silandis had been home from time to time, but the matter of becoming pontifex had not been discussed much during those visits. Silandis was having second thoughts about his decision to refuse the office. He had proven his own worth to himself, and perhaps he could serve both the Adventurers' Guild and the city of Hardor. In the end, he accepted. In 1099, Hardaukar III ascended the Imperial throne. He too rated as one of the best warriors in the world. There was no love lost between the priest-king and the emperor half his age. In 1102, Silandis had cause to regret his decision to become pontifex. Hardaukar did not want a strong second-in-command, and so used the Adventurers' Guild to challenge Silandis. He had a local guild master framed for some minor offence, outlawed the Guild and raided its offices. Two adventurers resisted one of the raids and were executed. Hardaukar did gain domestic support from his actions, but also made his reputation abroad that of a barbarian with no respect for human lives. As it happened, Silandis was to learn that Hardaukar had some knack for politics. In 1104, the two privately came to terms, and although the Pandese Empire and the Adventurers' Guild officially reconciled in 1106, the two were able to conduct a "good cop-bad cop" foreign policy for a long time. The ban of the AG made foreign ambassadors go to Silandis rather than the emperor, and then he would "see what he could do". From 1105 to 1110 Silandis took part in the Ring Saga, but in the last years of his life he spent more time performing his ceremonial duties in Hardor than brokering power in Enders. In 1123, he was murdered a few paces from his residence in Vintendra. Despite the resources of the Adventurers' Guild and those of the Enki priesthood, and the fact that few command the power to bring him down, the culprit remains unknown. He was succeeded by his nephew, Tanuris.